Deportation order splits Oakland family and highlights shift under Trump

Maria Mendoza-Sanchez talks about a deportation order that is tearing her family apart. She and her husband must leave.

Maria Mendoza-Sanchez talks about a deportation order that is tearing her family apart. She and her husband must leave.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Image 2 of 5

Maria Mendoza Sanchez prepares her lunch before she leaves for work from her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Mendoza Sanchez and her husband Eusebio are from Mexico, and the pair have four children -- three of whom are U.S. citizens. But the couple faces deportation next week. less

Maria Mendoza Sanchez prepares her lunch before she leaves for work from her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Mendoza Sanchez and her husband Eusebio are from Mexico, and the pair have four ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Image 3 of 5

Maria Mendoza Sanchez talks with a reporter about possibly having her family split by a Department of Homeland Security order to leave the country at her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Mendoza Sanchez and her husband Eusebio are from Mexico, and the pair have four children -- three of whom are U.S. citizens. But the couple faces deportation next week. less

Maria Mendoza Sanchez talks with a reporter about possibly having her family split by a Department of Homeland Security order to leave the country at her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Image 4 of 5

Maria Mendoza Sanchez shows an application for a stay of deporation from Department of Homeland Security at her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Mendoza Sanchez and her husband Eusebio are from Mexico, and the pair have four children -- three of whom are U.S. citizens. But the couple faces deportation next week. less

Maria Mendoza Sanchez shows an application for a stay of deporation from Department of Homeland Security at her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Mendoza Sanchez and her husband Eusebio are ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Image 5 of 5

Maria Mendoza Sanchez prepares her lunch before she leaves for work from her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Mendoza Sanchez and her husband Eusebio are from Mexico, and the pair have four children -- three of whom are U.S. citizens. But the couple faces deportation next week. less

Maria Mendoza Sanchez prepares her lunch before she leaves for work from her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Mendoza Sanchez and her husband Eusebio are from Mexico, and the pair have four ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Deportation order splits Oakland family and highlights shift under Trump

1 / 5

Back to Gallery

Although President Trump ran on a platform of rounding up and deporting “bad hombres,” Oakland nurse Maria Mendoza-Sanchez knew that she and her husband — who each lack legal status — would not be protected by their clean records.

“I knew that not only our life but the life of many immigrants was going to change completely,” said the mother of four as she recalled the night of the election. “I knew this is going to be a totally different story now.”

Nearly seven months later, her fears have been realized.

On May 23, immigration officials told the couple they had three months to make arrangements to leave for the Mexican homeland in which they last set foot 23 years ago. On Tuesday, they will reluctantly split up their family, flying to Mexico with their 12-year-old son to start a new life, while leaving their three older daughters — who are 16, 21 and 23 — behind in the U.S.

In the past, Mendoza-Sanchez’s background likely would have spared her from deportation. She’s the mother of three native-born U.S. citizens and one recipient of the government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. She owns a home in Oakland, has no criminal record, and works as a nurse in the cardiology and oncology wing of Highland Hospital.

“It’s supposed to be that if you assimilate to the culture of the country, you pay taxes, you work, you graduate college, you have a better chance,” she said. “It was supposed to be, but I did all that and I’m still in this situation. I just don’t understand.”

The family’s case, experts said, is one of many that highlights the major shifts under way since Trump took office and made nearly every immigrant in the country without documentation a priority for removal. Since February, more than 57,000 people have been ordered to leave the country — a nearly 31 percent increase over the same time period in 2016 under President Barack Obama.

“It just shows that there’s an absence of priorities for deportation from the present administration — it’s just totally random and they’re including some really good people like the Mendoza-Sanchez family,” said Carl Shusterman, an attorney representing the couple.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, said Wednesday that over the last 15 years the couple’s case went through an exhaustive review by the immigration court system.

“The courts have consistently held that neither of these individuals has a legal basis to remain in the U.S.,” Kice said.

She noted that while ICE continues to prioritize people believed to pose safety risks, the agency’s acting director has said ICE will not exempt people from enforcement.

“This administration is committed to the rule of law and to enforcing the laws established by Congress,” she said. “When we fail to enforce those laws, what message are we sending to the millions of people who respect that process and are waiting outside the U.S. now for visas that will enable them to enter the country lawfully?”

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Maria Mendoza Sanchez describes the stress and anxiety of possibly having her family split by a Department of Homeland Security order to leave the country at her home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Mendoza Sanchez and her husband Eusebio are from Mexico, and the pair have four children -- three of whom are U.S. citizens. But the couple faces deportation next week.

Maria Mendoza Sanchez describes the stress and anxiety of possibly...

For years, however, immigrants with strong ties in the country, like Mendoza-Sanchez and her husband, were granted stays of deportation orders while ICE focused resources on people with felony convictions and gang or terrorism ties, said Heather Prendergast, chair of the ICE liaison committee for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Denying those stays, she said, is a simple way for the administration to boost deportations without expending resources.

“This is a very easy group of people to go after,” Prendergast said. “If these sorts of cases are being denied, then who gets to stay here, and who is safe? Arguably it is no one.”

The couple’s immigration saga began when they sneaked into the country in the early 1990s. In the early 2000s, they began an exhaustive effort to legalize their status by applying for asylum, and later they applied for green cards through the immigration courts — a nearly decadelong process that included a series of court dates and multiple appeals. They were denied in 2012.

Beginning in 2013, they were granted a pair of one-year stays before immigration officials, in 2015, informed them they didn’t need stays because they were low priorities for deportation, Mendoza-Sanchez said.

In the meantime, Mendoza-Sanchez obtained her nursing degree and began working at Highland Hospital. Her husband, Eusebio Sanchez, is a truck driver, and the two have seen two of their daughters earn admission to UC Santa Cruz.

After being told in May that they had to leave the country, Mendoza-Sanchez and Sanchez went into planning mode. They picked up extra work hours and shifts in a bid to save as much money as possible for their three daughters who would be left behind.

The mother said she told her children, “This is not up to me. These things are pretty much out of my control. There’s nothing I can do. I’ve done everything. You be very strong.”

Staying behind are 21-year-old Melin, who has one more year of undergraduate work to complete, as well as Vianney, 23, and Elizabeth, a 16-year-old who is going to be a junior in high school.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Maria Mendoza-Sanchez (left) prepares to leave for work as her daughter Melin talks on the phone. The family is devastated by a deportation order that is sending the parents from their Oakland home back to Mexico.

Maria Mendoza-Sanchez (left) prepares to leave for work as her...

Vianney, a DACA recipient, will become Elizabeth’s legal guardian and the two will stay in the family home together until their other sister joins them. She’s ready for the task but has concerns.

“I’m not exactly sure how to go about raising her because I’m not her mother,” the 23-year-old said Wednesday at their home, as her mother sat near her crying silently.

While Elizabeth promised to help clean the house to support her older sister, she said the prospect of her parents leaving during her high school years is daunting.

“I always thought that my mom would be here during high school and if I had problems I could talk to her, but she’s not going to be here for that,” the teenager said, wiping away tears as she held her mother’s hand.

She described how Mendoza-Sanchez hired tutors and worked with her when she struggled academically a few years ago.

“She helped me get to where I am now,” she said. Referring to supporters of increased immigration enforcement, she said, “I just want them to imagine — what if it was their family that was going through this? How would they feel?”